Though without a special statement by official Yerevan, some officials expressed points of view about the scandal involving the UAVs sold to Azerbaijan, saying that it is a matter of Israel’s reputation, and Tel Avis should follow up on its complete revelation. This is about the scandal of the Israeli press reports on demonstration of the UAVs at the Armenian positions by the company’s management on Azerbaijan’s request. The Israeli ministry of defense has announced about launching an investigation. As part of this investigation the sale of UAVs to Azerbaijan has been suspended for a time until the investigation finds out something. This scandal followed the visit of the Israeli minister of territorial cooperation to Armenia. This was an unprecedented level of the Armenian-Israeli relations though Armenia received the minister at the level of the foreign minister and prime minister and Serzh Sargsyan took his annual leave. Why did’t Serzh Sargsyan meet with the Israeli minister? It’s hard to tell. It looked like a demarche but what was the purpose of it? Had Yerevan known about the story of UAVs or were there other issues as well? Had the Israeli minister arrived in Yerevan to give explanations, to prevent a scandal or was the scandal intended to hinder any agreement between Armenia and Israel. These are all assumptions. In this context, it is interesting that on August 23 when Serzh Sargsyan left for Sochi to meet with Putin, Putin met with the Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu on the same day. Of course, there are no public grounds for judging about a connection between these two meetings but the coincidence is interesting itself, especially that Netanyahu put forth Iran’s issue with tough wording. Putin’s answer was silenced. Yerevan’s reaction to the scandal on Israeli UAVs was cautious, of course. Yerevan refrains from assessments which may cause additional tension in the Armenian-Israeli relations. At the same time, one can notice the signals that Armenia is waiting for consequences. In this context, it is interesting that another statement which was not a leak to the press but a statement by a high-ranking Azerbaijani official in the Russian press. In an interview with RIA Novosti the minister of defense of Azerbaijan Zakir Hasanov announced that Russia tries its modern weapons in Syria and then shares its experience with Azerbaijan.

One should note that this is not about some Russian private company, such as Israel because in Syria the Russian armed forces carry out actions, not a private company.

This statement did not get attention not only at the official level but also at the level of personal opinions of representatives of the government. Meanwhile, Hasanov’s statement at least gives rise to questions as to what specific experience of military actions in Syria Russia shares with Azerbaijan, how applicable this experience is to the Armenian positions for Azerbaijan, and how far from the Armenian positions does Russia share its Syrian military experience with Azerbaijan. Has any representative of the Armenian government ever requested an explanation from Russia on Hasanov’s statement?